Van Meter invests in Canadian company

Van Meter Inc. of Cedar Rapids has taken a 25 percent stake in Eyedro Green Solutions, an Ontario, Canada, company that makes electronic systems that monitor residential and commercial electricity consumption.

It marks the first time employee-owned Van Meter, a distributor of automation, energy, data communications, electrical, lighting and medium-voltage supplies and support, has taken an equity stake in another business.

Van Meter hosted a four-day investment forum in June, where select entrepreneurs pitched their businesses to company leaders. After a period of due diligence, Van Meter chose to invest an undisclosed amount of money in Eyedro as a separate limited liability company.

Scott Cornish, Van Meter's vice president of diversified business, will have a seat on Eyedro's board of directors.

'Eyedro is the right fit for us because their product offering is in line with our business and provides our customers with a quality electricity monitoring solution at a fraction of the cost of what's currently on the market,” Cornish said in a news release.

Cornish said employees of Van Meter should see continued growth for the company with the investment in Eyedro.

'We are fortunate to be in a strong financial position, giving us the ability to plant seeds for the future beyond our day-to-day business,” he said. 'We want to be generational and lay the groundwork for future employee-owners.”

Van Meter, with more than 425 employee owners, has 14 locations in Iowa.